This invention relates to a cartridge receiving casing, and more particularly to a cartridge receiving casing constructed so as to permit a cover mounted on a casing body to be slid on the casing body to force out a cartridge from the casing.
There has been conventionally known in the art a cartridge receiving casing (hereinafter referred merely to as "casing") in which a cartridge having a disc-shaped medium such as a mini-disc (MD) or the like received therein is received in non-use.
One of such conventional casings is constructed in such a manner as shown in FIG. 21 by way of example. More specifically, a first conventional casing generally illustrated at reference numeral 10 in FIG. 21 is constituted by fittedly joining an upper casing member 11 and a lower casing member 12 to each other. The casing 10 is formed on one of side surfaces thereof with an opening 13, through which a cartridge is inserted into or removed from the casing. Also, the upper casing member 11 and lower casing member 12 are formed at an outer edge of a central portion of a side thereof facing the opening 13 with cutouts 11a and 12a of a recess-like shape, respectively. The cutouts 11a and 12a function to permit the cartridge received in the casing to be readily held between fingers for removal of the cartridge from the casing.
A second conventional casing is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 278775/1993. The second conventional casing is provided on an inside thereof with elastically displaceable lock members. When a cartridge is received in the casing, the lock members hold the cartridge in the casing, to thereby keep the cartridge from readily falling off from the casing.
A third conventional casing is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 202380/1997. The disclosed casing includes a lower casing member and a movable cover adapted to be slid on the lower casing member. Sliding of the cover permits a cartridge received in the casing to be forced out from the casing. Also, the casing is so constructed that elastic force of an elastic mechanism for preventing falling-off of the cartridge from the casing permits the cartridge to be held in the casing even when the movable cover is slid to the utmost. More particularly, the elastic mechanism is integrally formed with a side wall and the cartridge is pressedly held by the elastic mechanism not only during being received in the casing but also after being forced out.
The first conventional casing 10 described above permits the cartridge to fall off from the casing by its own weight as desired when the opening 13 is turned down, however, it possibly causes the cartridge to accidentally fall off therefrom.
Also, the first and second conventional casings described above each require to use both hands for removal of the cartridge from the casing, to thereby render handling thereof inconvenient or troublesome. In addition, the casings each cause insertion of an index card into the casing and removal of the index card from the casing to be troublesome.
Further, in the third conventional casing, sliding of the movable cover permits the cartridge to be partially exposed through a discharge opening. However, in this state as well, the cartridge is held in the casing by elastic force, so that removal of the cartridge from the casing ultimately requires to use both hands. Also, in the third conventional casing, sliding of the movable cover causes an index card to be forced out from the casing together with the cartridge. Further, in the third conventional casing, the lower casing member is typically made of a transparent resin material such as PC (polycarbonate) or the like, so that it is not possible to use a resin material increased in elasticity such as POM or the like for formation of the elastic mechanism. It would be considered that a separate member such as a metallic spring or the like is fixed in the lower casing member. However, this requires to arrange the member at each of at least two positions of the casing member, resulting in the number of parts being increased and assembling of the casing being troublesome.